Rebirth and Second Chances

The Sithern expanded around me, encompassing me while adapting to the intersection of three realms. Its roots burrowed deeply within all three dimensions, as I'd hoped. The Nexus magic the Banshee had absorbed, allowed for a sympathetic connection to be established. Like called to like, and it was this aspect of magic that allowed a way for the Sithern to access the Nexus node that was now sheathed a protective mantel.

That connection allowed the roots to access the ley-lines and the Nexus node by burrowing within the mantel, making the smallest of openings. Openings so small that only the tiniest root cilia were able to gain entry. But that was enough when millions of branching roots grew and gained purchase. The root system had an explosive growth as the Sithern harnessed the Nexus magic steeped within the heart of the Banshee.

The Sithern made use of the unique location and anchored itself across all three dimensions, cilia seeking and finding purchase to build a foundation on the bedrock of each realm.

It teased loose the [Laws] of each reality and braided them together giving it complete control over each space. By subsuming those [Laws] and claiming space in each dimension as it formed, it was able to bolster a unique pocket dimension. An area of control that would take shape and form, becoming the body of the growing Sithern.

Every Sithern was alive. A unique individual with a unique personality.

There were commonalities, of course. Each entity was programmed to seek out and establish a Host Bond. Every Sithern wanted to protect and please the individuals that made use of the space they created. And each was capable of creating vast tracks of lands, an inner world capable of meeting the needs of the Sidhe that would be using that space and living in it.

I was already bonded to the Sithern, Saor o Shlabhraidhean, but I had been assured by the Oracle that a second [Host Bond] was possible, so I had been prepared to accept that connection. Once the Sithern had sprouted and was well established, I spooled a part of the astral tether that kept my spirit body rooted to my physical body to establish a bridge between myself and the Sithern. It was this spiritual connection that would allow the [Host Bond] to form.

The Sithern accepted my offering, but not as I'd intended. It was not willing to bond with me completely, recognizing that I had already established a bond that was pulsing with health and vitality. The Banshee had not only sacrificed its body and magic to give life to the Sithern, but it had also sacrificed its soul.

Instead of being destroyed, it had merged with the Sithern, giving it a greater degree of autonomy than any Sithern had ever had. The Sithern had integrated with her completely, making the need for a [Host Bond] superfluous.

I was alarmed, at first, when I realized what had happened. The Banshee was a mindless creature, insane and voracious in its appetites, and the Sithern had managed to absorb and assimilate that soul. There was an advantage to what it had done. It would have a measure of independence no other Sithern enjoyed. What truly alarmed me was the negatives associated with a Banshee. I feared the curse the Leanan Sidhe had suffered under may have also been incorporated.

A Sithern that functioned under that type of curse would be a place of horror and terror for anyone brave enough to enter. It would be more dungeon than Sithern, and if that were the case, and rooted as it was in three dimensions, it would be impossible to destroy.

But I worried needlessly.

The insanity, the endless hunger of emotions from the curse had been counterbalanced by the Sithern's own characteristics. A give and take synergy had been struck, as the Sithern's nature to help and protect had warred briefly with the Leanan's curse before eventually claiming supremacy.

That battle had transformed the curse into a blessing. The parasitic nature of the Leanan Sidhe's curse changed as that transformation took place.

The Sithern became able to collect stray negative emotions from those that resided inside. Fear, anger, greed, and hatred would be collected, and the Sithern would filter those emotions and release calm and contentment instead.

More importantly, the Sithern would only collect those emotions that an individual shed naturally. That part of a person's astral body that radiated colors and energy and could align with those negative emotions.

The Sithern didn't force an individual to sacrifice their emotions, it simply collected the detritus of emotions and feelings they shed naturally. The astral body discarded emotional energy in the same manner that the skin shed dead cells. The Sithern collected that discarded emotional energy and returned it as an empathic aura by fusing plant life that was aligned with more positive emotions.

Those negative emotions would be filtered, transformed, and released as part of the natural cycle of growth the Sithern would establish. The very plants would have a calming effect on its residents

The Sithern was now able to create [Sub-bonds], instead of [Host bonds], each bond allowing the formation of a symbiotic relationship between a willing host and the Sithern. Unlike the Leanan Sidhe soulbond, there would be no harmful effects.

It was a brilliant synergy, one that would have a cascading effect.

The Sithern had grown large enough as these changes were made that it had established an entrance in all three dimensions. As it broke through and claimed an anchor point on Urt, it released a psychic longitudinal and transversal wave of information that blanketed the planet.

The psychic wave acted as a virus to infect every Leanan Sidhe and Banshee in existence, rewriting the parameters and definition of the curse these Sidhe had suffered under so that they would no longer be forced to form soul bonds that were doomed to end in tragedy. More importantly, they could now absorb negative emotions easily, absorbing and filtering the emotions that were shed by those close to them as an aspect of their nature.

If the Tuatha de Danann were awake. If Branwen, the Goddess of Love and Beauty was invested in maintaining the parameters of the cure and aware of the Sithern's actions. Then perhaps the virus the Sithern introduced to affect change, to transform the curse into a blessing, might have been stymied. But without Divine intervention, the changes the Sithern created took root.

The Leanan Sidhe would no longer be despised or reviled. Their ability to absorb negative emotions holistically and generate a domain of peace and steadfastness would make them sought after. Their new nature would allow the give and take when compromising, bargaining, and resolving conflicts a better chance at success, as negative emotions were soothed.

They would go from anathema, the scourges of the Sidhe, to individuals in demand, feted for their calming influence. They would stand silent sentinels while both Kings and paupers forged agreements. And as one of the Sidhe graced with beauty beyond the pale, they would become newly coveted as mates and brides.

The Sithern extended a tendril of awareness towards me, understanding perhaps instinctively that I could help it complete setting the controls and parameters that would determine how it functioned and how it would grow. I accepted that offering, forming an ancillary bond with the newly born creature, one that had no impact on my already established [Host bond].

The connection wasn't as deep or profound as a [Host bond], and I understood now why the Oracle had said my current bond wouldn't be endangered. This tendril of awareness was familiar. I had watched as the Sitherns on Talahm had used a similar tendril to create a communication and portal network, a way to share experience and understanding between all Sithern.

This Sithern slotted into that Network easily sending out and receiving permissions, establishing its own domain and portal. My role in guiding its growth was eliminated as this new Sithern collected the shared experiences of all Sithern connected to that network to copy and paste a working environment. It used the parameters and settings that it felt worked best.

I did use the minimal connection that I managed to gain, to nudge the Sithern to expand through the dimensional corridor of the multiverse and connect with the primary World Tree. The Sithern was happy to follow my suggestion, and I watched in anticipation as Yggdrasil followed those roots back to Urt.

Finally, it was done.

I named the Sithern.

Seastan Deireanach. Last Stand.

And a new World Tree was born.

Both Sithern and World Tree were rooted within limbo, Underhill, and Urt. Invulnerable and inviolate unless attacked and destroyed in all three planes of existence simultaneously.

Just as the changes to the Leanan Sidhe and Banshee had released a psychic longitudinal and transversal wave of information that blanketed the planet, the creation of a World Tree released its own transformative energy broadcast. It created a seismic shift in the paradigm of this world that anyone attuned with magic, or the Divine, would notice.

And the Gods, of every pantheon, already alerted to the changes that the world was undergoing when the Wild Magic acted. Each God reveled or raged as the World Tree established a new world order.

For Odin, that change was followed by a fury so vast that his Pantheon was forced to flee in fear. All except Loki, who saw the blossoming of the World Tree as an opportunity.

Schemes within schemes began forming for the trickster God.

The formation of a new World Tree would advance Loki's plans. I was aware of this, even before I came to Urt. The Loki of my Universe would not have agreed to my demands if the changes I made here wouldn't reverberate across the multi-verse.